Ill
by Zuzu-Petals
Summary: Ponyboy doesn't feel good. Will he ever admit it?
1. At School

*I don't own the characters or the situations they had in the past. They belong to S. E. Hinton.*  
I was sitting at my desk, bored to death. I really didn't want to be there right now. I didn't feel that great, either. My head was pounding and I was achy all over. I just wanted to be home and in bed. I needed some aspirin. I sighed and I rested my forehead on my hand. Ah, the coolness of my hand felt good. I looked at the teacher at the front of the room, and my vision went weary. I decided to keep an eye on my book, that way I wouldn't feel so dizzy. I hated being in class right now, everything seems worse when you are sitting in a silent classroom. There wasn't enough to distract me from the way I was feeling. All of a sudden, my stomach did a violent turn; I thought I was going to be sick. I raised my hand.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Curtis?" My teacher, Mr. Simmons, asked.  
  
"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked weakly.  
  
"I don't know, can you?" He smirked. I sighed. Teachers always find that so hilarious, I don't know why. I guess they just love to be smart.  
  
".may I?" I said, fixing my question.  
  
"I guess so." He looked at me with concern. They had to give us time limit since some student take advantage of bathroom breaks. ".3 minutes." He gave me an extra minute. I must have looked like I really needed a break.  
  
I got up and fought the dizziness and headed towards the door.  
  
"Ponyboy, do you feel okay?" my teacher asked. I turned to his direction.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.  
  
Once, I was in the bathroom, I looked in the mirror. My skin was pale, but my cheeks were flushed, and I had dark circles under my eyes. I turned the cold water on and splashed my face, and I cupped my hands so I could drink some. That felt good. Maybe I wasn't going to be sick after all. I decided to sit down on the windowsill for a moment to make sure. After a moment, I got up and I was about to head back to class, but I had to run to the toilet and throw up first.  
  
I managed to make it through the rest of the morning without getting sick again. The day just dragged on. I was counting down the minutes to lunch. I wasn't hungry at all. In fact the idea of food repulsed me. I just needed to get out of there. I needed to get outside in the cool air.  
  
The lunch bell rang, and I winced in pain. "shh, my head hurts" I thought. The noise in the hallways didn't help much either. I was trying to open my locker when Two-bit came up to me, with his hands in his pockets.  
  
"Hey Pony, you wanna go to the DX and to harass Soda and Steve?" He asked. He didn't need to ask me, since we head over there everyday. I guess it was a good icebreaker.  
  
"Do I ever, I need to get out of here." I replied.  
  
"Hard day?" He asked, examining my pale face.  
  
"Just long." I sighed.  
  
"You're cheeks are flushed. Are you sick?" He questioned. For being this tough, wisecracking greaser, he sure knows how to sense emotions.  
  
"I'm not sick, I just have been running around a lot today." I lied.  
  
He looked at me like he almost didn't believe me, but he let it drop. "Well let's drop this joint." He exclaimed. 


	2. The Walk

Chapter 2 -The Walk  
Cherry Valence was standing outside the school door, as we were leaving. Two-bit and I walked by. She is a social, and we are greasers. I was not supposed to notice she was there, especially on school property. That's what caused all the trouble last year. That's what killed Johnny and Dally. The thought of that made me shiver. Two-bit raised his eyebrow at me. He was about to say something but was interrupted.  
  
"Pony, can I talk to you?" It was Cherry. I gasped as I turned to face her.  
  
"Y-yeah" I stuttered. I dug Cherry, I really did. She is the only person left that understood sunsets. I couldn't talk to her though because of her status. I was looking around at the faces near-by us. The thought of being caught talking to her scared the crap out of me. I knew I was liable to be killed if I was.  
  
"Look, I know this isn't a good place to talk. Can I come to your place tonight after supper?" I knew that it took her a lot of courage to ask me this, and I hated to turn her down. I looked over to Two-bit. He knew what I was thinking and he shrugged his shoulders. "It's not safe for you to be walking in our neighborhood." I replied as calmly and tough as I could. I still had my image to uphold.  
  
"I already talked to Randy, and he said that he would give me a ride and pick me up." I was deep in thought. 'How would Darry and Soda take this?' I wondered. She looked nervous and was twisting her beautiful red hair between her fingers. "Would it be alright?" She finished.  
  
"Yeah, come to my place at 6:30" I figured that would be the best time. We would have the dishes done by then and I would have plenty of time to break the news to both brothers.  
  
"I better get going before." She didn't finish that sentence. I knew what she meant. I realized she was as scared of talking to me as I was of her. She turned and walked back into the school.  
  
"Woohoo!" Two-bit grinned. "Somebody has a date tonight! With a pretty Soc!" He continued. I could feel my ears turn red. I could see that he could hardly contain himself.  
  
"Aw Two-bit lay off. It's not a date and you know it. She needs to talk about something. It's business." I retorted.  
  
"Hmm, I wonder what Soda and Darry will think about your 'business meeting'" He chuckled. His grin was from ear to ear with that remark. He thinks he's pretty darn funny sometimes.  
  
Two-bit made a few more smart comments but I ignored him. I was too deep in thought. 'What would my brothers say?' and more importantly 'What did she want?' My mind was swirling with thoughts. I felt even dizzier that I did before.  
  
We finally reached the DX. Thank goodness. Talking to Cherry made me forget that I wasn't feeling that well. But now I realized how exhausted and weak I felt. I sat down on Soda's stool with my pepsi. Soda and Steve were with customers at the moment, and Two-bit was sitting next to me on Steve's stool. He was smacking on his candy bar. I hate it when people smack, especially today. It was grossing me out.  
  
"Must you smack?" I finally blurted out to Two-bit.  
  
"Whoa, someone is cranky today!" Said a voice from behind me. I looked and Soda and Steve were there.  
  
"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to snap."  
  
"That's okay, I know you are worried about your business meeting tonight" Two-bit said.  
  
Soda looked curious. "Business meeting? What's he talking about, Pon'?"  
  
I felt my ears turn red. I was going to bring the conversation up in a much more subtle manor. "I uh.have company coming over after supper tonight." I managed to get out.  
  
"Who?" Soda asked.  
  
I was silent. My headache wasn't quite ready for the yelling that was about to take place.  
  
"Who?" Soda asked again impatiently.  
  
"Cherry." I said quietly.  
  
"Cherry Valence!?" Both Steve and Soda shouted.  
  
"The Soc?" Steve asked to clarify things.  
  
"Yeah. She asked if she could come over after school. She said that she needed to talk to me." I looked at their stunned faces. "You know as well as I do that would be the safest place to talk." I continued.  
  
"How is it going to work, without her being caught, huh?" Soda asked quietly.  
  
"She said Randy would give her a ride and pick her up." I replied.  
  
"I don't know about this" Soda sighed. He looked uneasy.  
  
"I know this is awkward. I figured that since she and Randy both helped us out before, it would be okay."  
  
They all were thinking about what I had just said. It's true. Randy gave a true testimony in court last year, and so did Cherry. Cherry was also a spy for us before the rumble. They were not evil like the rest of the socs. I hated the labels greasers and socs. Why did things have to be this way?  
  
"I 'spose. I hope Darry doesn't blow his top" Soda finally replied.  
  
I sank deeper into my chair. 'One brother down, one to go.' I thought. I took a sip of my pepsi. It caused my stomach to turn, so I put my pepsi down. I glanced up and noticed that Soda was looking at me funny.  
  
"You okay, Pony?" He asked, looking at me worriedly.  
  
"I'm fine." I sighed. 'Why do I have to have a face that reveals so much?' I thought. "I'm just thinking about tonight." I replied. 


	3. Anticipation

*Characters and past storylines belong to S.E. Hinton.*  
  
Chapter 3- Anticipation  
  
Two-bit came up to my locker again, after classes finally finished. I was trying to decide what I needed to do for homework that night. Not that I would be able to concentrate on it very well, with the much-anticipated visitor tonight. I hated to admit it, but I've been looking forward to the visit all day. Maybe we would have a moment to talk, like that one night at the Nightly Double.  
  
"Hey, guess what!" Two-bit shouted.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I passed all of my classes this semester." He grinned.  
  
"I told you that you could do it. Does that mean you have a chance of graduating this spring?" I inquired.  
  
"You got it." He replied.  
  
"Tuff!" I exclaimed. He was beaming with pride.  
  
"Did you pick up your report card yet?" He asked.  
  
"Yep." I pulled the report out from my back pocket and handed it to him.  
  
"Congratulations, Ponyboy.all A's again. Darry and Soda are going to be real proud."  
  
My brothers and I have been getting along better than ever. We made a pact last year to stick together, and we have. I've been working extra hard with my schoolwork, since my brothers gave up so much so I would have and opportunity to go to college and get out of this neighborhood. I made a pact with myself that I would work extra hard and get my brothers out of this neighborhood too. They deserve the best, just as much as I do. I smiled at Two-bit's comment. "Come on let's go."  
  
"Shoot kid, you don't have to tell me twice."  
  
Usually Two-bit comes to my place after school, but he had to go home today to show his mom his report card. That was an unusual occurrence for Two- bit Mathews. Usually on report card day, he hangs at our place until he absolutely has to go home. I smiled at the thought of his mom finding out that her son is finally going to graduate. She may not be strict enough, but she was a nice lady.  
  
As soon as I entered my house, I plopped onto the couch. I was too exhausted to take my afternoon jog. After awhile, I decided to get up and clean a little. I didn't want Cherry to think we were a bunch of slobs.  
  
I had just finished putting the last dish in the cupboard when I heard the sound of the Ford pull up in front of our house. Shortly after Darry and Soda entered the house.  
  
"Whoa, did some cleanin' hey Pon'." Darry commented. Soda smiled at me knowingly.  
  
"Yep." I started to cough. 'Not now!' I thought. Thankfully, I was able suppress the cough for the most part.  
  
"I see you still have that nagging cough." Darry remarked.  
  
"Just a little." I quickly changed the subject. "Two-bit passed all of his classes! He will be able to graduate in the spring!"  
  
"Tuff!" Soda shouted and Darry smiled.  
  
"How did your report turn out?" Darry asked me. I handed him the report from my back pocket. He took and it, and smiled with pride when he saw the marks. I couldn't help but smile back.  
  
"Maybe we should invite Two-bit over for chocolate cake. It looks like we have a reason to celebrate." He grinned, while messing up my hair. Soda playfully punched Darry's arm, and Darry immediately directed his attention towards Soda.  
  
"You better watch it little buddy!" He laughed. He soon had Soda pinned to the ground. "Say uncle." He cried. Soda merely laughed. "Never!" He responded. After what seemed like ten minutes Soda finally shouted, "Okay, Okay! Uncle!" Darry laughed.  
  
"Is it okay if we had the celebration tomorrow night?" I interrupted.  
  
"How come?" Darry questioned.  
  
"I kinda have a visitor coming tonight." I said quietly.  
  
"Who might that be?" He asked. I could feel my ears turn bright red. I tried to answer his question, but I couldn't get the name out.  
  
"Cherry Valance" Soda piped in for me.  
  
Darry's mouth just about dropped to the floor. He was no longer laughing, but tense instead. His blue-green glared at me, and I felt like he was using some sort of x-ray vision and could see right through me. I started chewing on my fingernails.  
  
"What does she want?" He asked coldly.  
  
"I uh, don't know, she wants to um, talk to me." I stuttered. I stuffed my hand into my pockets and looked at me feet, I was all of a sudden fascinated with my shoes.  
  
"She's not a bad Soc." Soda helped out. "She was very helpful for us before." He continued.  
  
Soda's comment seemed to help Darry relax a little. He knew what Soda said was true. "Randy is dropping her off and picking her up." I added.  
  
"I don't like this one bit, Pony" Darry sighed. "But I trust you."  
  
Darry never said that out loud to me before. Now, I was really nervous about tonight. I didn't want to lose Darry's trust. That is very important to me.  
  
"What time is she coming?"  
  
"6:30"  
  
**Author's note: Criticism is welcome. ** 


End file.
